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by notthestraightest
Summary: shit happens. Starts off one-sided Lee/Lucy, mild angst. super predictable series of one shots based in the same universe wow how # cool. This is honestly the first fic I've posted, ik it's shit, shhh. (AU)
1. Move out, move on

It was strange to wake up up and find nobody. Sure, there were times when she'd be gone on a business trip or staying with a friend, but that was a rarity. It was his first morning away from the flat, his space now occupied by James, Lucy's _fiancé_. Lee of course, _hated_ him.

There wasn't really any reason to hate him other than the fact he was snuggling up to Lucy, in fact, he'd basically given him a fully furnished place to stay, free of charge (and who doesn't like free things?) but It didn't mean he was happy about the whole ordeal, it isn't the best scenario to be in. Y'know when you're essentially forced from your house of nearly a decade into a cramped studio apartment whilst the woman you love is off with some arty bloke. _Lovely_.

Amidst the silence, Lee walked into the small kitchen and raided the cupboards for food. There was nothing of course, it wasn't as if James had left him a full English breakfast sitting in the fridge for him (unless you count that one old baked bean, sitting at the back of the fridge). He realised this meant he had to go grocery shopping. He slipped into his new room, yanked an outfit out of his still packed suitcase, grabbed his keys and stepped out the door- without his wallet. He walked back in again to retrieve it but he couldn't seem to locate the bloody thing. Not in his jacket, not in his suitcase, not anywhere.

Lee drew up two conclusions, he'd either mugged in his sleep or he'd left it back at his old flat, he was rooting for the former, but as much as he didn't want to believe it, it was probably back at the flat. Lee really didn't want to go there, it was literally a sitcom plot waiting to happen and couldn't handle the awkwardness, _but_ he really needed food. He stepped back out the door and locked it (he might of not been sleep mugged, but he'd like to refrain from falling victim to any future robberies) before stepping into the lift.

* * *

 _I better not be interrupting anything_ , Lee thought, trying to push away the image of his former landlady and her fiancé tangled up in bed. He gave the door a knock and waited a few seconds, no reply came, but he didn't hear any sounds from inside the apartment so they were probably both at work. He resorted to using his spare key to open the door and slipped inside.

The table beside the door seemed like a good place to look first so he rummaged around the piles of letters and miscellaneous items. Nope. Lee decided o look in his old room next, it was a bit weird being in such an empty room now, sheets stripped and drawers bare. The search was over quickly since he could basically list all of the room's contents with a quick once over with his eyes.

He looked around the rest of the flat but found nothing but one of his old socks (which would of been better off staying behind the heater) and a mug he'd forgotten. Lucy's room hadn't been searched though, so he headed there. Lee opened the door and stepped inside.

"What are you doing here?!" squealed a feminine voice. Lucy was still home then.

"What are you still doing here? You should be at work!" Lee pointed at Lucy accusingly, she raised an eyebrow and stood up from her bed.

"I'm self employed you idiot, I don't have set working hours! And you still haven't explained why you're back here and in my room at ten o'clock in the morning. I didn't even think you were capable of waking up this early!"

Lee narrowed his eyes at her and stood up straight, puffing out his chest, "I just so happen to be looking for my wallet so I can buy some food, but with you being a Tory supporter you probably _want_ me to stave to death, seeing I'm unemployed!"

Lucy sighed and opened her bedside drawer, pulling out his wallet, " _Here_." She held out her hand and motioned hpfor him to take it, but he made no attempt to do so.

"I was going to stop by today and return it, I hadn't woken up until a few minutes ago but I'd heard you clattering about in the kitchen. I thought it was James" she explained. They hovered awkwardly for a while until lee eventually gave Lucy a smile and took his wallet from her hands.

"Thanks. I better be off now, I need to get some food before my stomach eats itself." He joked, but it didn't really have his usual flare.

"Bye... I'll see you soon?" she replied, leading him out into the hallway.

"Yeah. of course"

As he walked down the stairs and into the street, heading off to the nearest Supermarket, (that wasn't Waitrose, god knows how he could afford that) he realised that he wasn't going to be seeing much of her anytime soon. His family never had a record of happy endings.


	2. Serenity or Insanity?

He received a wedding invite in the post, he hadn't spoken to the bride in two months, he emailed the groom last week about some headphones that he'd found in the groom's former flat, but he hadn't spoken to the bride in _two months_.

They kept in touch after the whole wallet thing but the only time they had 'hung out' in person was when Daisy invited them both to a party- The rest was just phone calls and text messages, though soon enough, even that disappeared. It didn't really help that Tim was still in Germany, Toby never really seemed to like his company much, his dad would give the worst advice and Daisy wasn't the best person to speak to about this sort of thing. Lee had resorted to calling Barbara a few times, she didn't help as much as she tried to and her happy relationship with Pavlov was constantly pushed in his face (contrasting with his unhappy relationship with nobody) which never seemed to cheer him up much.

He saw Lucy in Tesco the week before, shopping with _James_. Lee could of easily approached them, made a joke about James holding a peach and Roald Dahl, then caught up on life's events- he just didn't feel like it. She looked so content even whilst shopping for fruit and vegetables, holding her fiancé's hand and marvelling over how _'bloody huge the strawberries are_ '.

The picturesque view of the happy couple shopping for groceries made him feel even more alone. He would insist that he didn't need a relationship to be happy, but he'd always had Lucy, and before her, Kate. He had always had a constant simulation of a domestic relationship, minus the sex. Lee _needed_ somebody to joke with, create problems with, fix problems with and then to tell him that he could do a bit better at some points whilst telling him to just _shut the fuck up_ when he really needed to. Lee sighed and looked over the details of the upcoming wedding.

He RSPVed anyway, just incase he felt in the mood for some free food and an open bar sometime in June. It was too good an offer to pass up, even if it came with the depressing catch of watching Lucy get married to somebody that wasn't him. Who said he'd attend the service anyway?

Lucy came to his mind a lot of the time, which did anything but aid him in his quest of moving on. Most of the time he mulled over failing to tell her how he felt, he could of done it so many times but he chickened out, like the coward he is. Maybe she loved him back at one point, but she definitely didn't now, she was in way too deep with James (not in a _sexual_ way, Jesus. Okay, also in a sexual way.) to ever feel anything for him. Plus she probably didn't want to speak to him, the wedding invite could of been more a polite gesture than and friendly one.

It was still quiet in his new apartment and loneliness didn't make it louder.


	3. Bridal Marching Away

It was June. Lee had taken the couple up on their offer of free food and an open bar, even if that's not exactly what they offered. The whole thing seemed more upsetting than he thought it would be, so he stayed put at the bar, distracting himself with a glass of gin and a bag of Rainbow Drops, trying to ignore the newlyweds.

It wasn't long become Lucy decided to stroll up and greet him with a grin, he smiled back but internally wanted her to leave, so he could carry on wallowing in self pity and open bar. She took the seat beside him and sipped at a glass of champagne whilst muttering about how painful her heels were. Apparently- _very_.

"I've not seen you I'm a while Lee, what've you been up to?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing really... There was a small fire in my flat last week, if that's anything interesting"

She looked down and and picked at her perfectly manicured nails, "how did that happen then?", Lucy didn't look majorly surprised, something was like that was _bound_ to happen to him without supervision. She giggled faintly.

"Well, there was this pigeon-"

"a _pigeon_?"

"Yes, a pigeon! and the gas hob was on, the pigeon flew into the room and set itself on fire!" Lee explained quickly. Lucy noticed he wasn't trying to make a joke like he usually would- and with a funny story like that? You'd think you had found a comedy goldmine. She sighed, bringing her attention back to her champagne.

The pair sat, sipping at their drinks in a somewhat awkward silence.

"Remember when that old lady wandered into the flat? And she had that dead bird?" Lee said suddenly,

"Yeah! She beat you up didn't she? Three times? Or _four_?"

" _Actually_ , it was twice. I don't think I would of survived more than that. I mean, either her walking stick was made of led or she had the upper body strength of a muscle man." Lee shuddered at the memory, taking a swig of his drink.

Lucy laughed lightly, swirling her drink. "At least we got to have something of a fireworks display in the end, even if you bought fire damaged fireworks"

"I was strapped for cash! I had to buy _something_ and I had a feeling the ones those teenage boys were selling near the co-op for a pound weren't going to be sufficient"

"You could of borrowed money from me, like you always did! It wasn't like you'd pay me back anyway!" Lucy jabbed Lee in the shoulder, he smiled widely. It felt like old times.

"I wanted to do something by myself for once! _Plus_ I thought the lady's grandson was going to give me a reward, that's the only reason I tried to bring her back myself." He sighed and motioned to the barman for a refill. They sat in silence for a while, listening to the music playing in the background. James was off dancing the polka with his aunt. Lee couldn't deny it was an amusing sight.

Lucy stood up from the bar stool, "Why don't we talk anymore?" She asked ou of nowhere, "I haven't spoken to you in months"

"I'm not sure..." He looked down at his drink, "I don't know why if I'm honest, and I miss... talking to you. I mean, we had good times, didn't we?" he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and sipped at his drink.

"Yeah, we did, didn't we?" She smiled and readjusted her dress. "Have you spoken to Tim?"

"No actually, couldn't find him"

"He's over there, by the food. Maybe you'd know that if you left the bar at some point" Lucy joked lightly

"Excuse me, I like a free drink or two! Don't blame me, you shouldn't of had an open bar at your wedding if you wanted people like me to socialise!" He defended himself, raising from the stool.

She smiled, "The thing is, you're the only one of my guests like yourself. Most of the people here can balance alcohol and socialising equally." Lucy smirked, drinking the last of her champagne.

"I was socialising! I was just speaking to you right there!"

"Doesn't count, I initiated it"

"I didn't ignore you!" Lee told her,

"Yes you did! Kind of!"

"Ah, but not totally..." He grinned cheekily at her and she mirrored his expression. Lee finished his drink and fixed his clothes. "I should go and speak to Tim"

"I should probably go and dance with James, shouldn't I? He's finished polka dancing with his aunt Denise." Lucy snorted in a mild laughter.

Lee smiled, sadly, glancing quickly at the groom "Yeah... you should."

They shared a quick hug and went their separate ways, Lee strolled over to Tim, ready to strike up a conversation. But Tim spoke first, "I didn't think you'd be here Lee."

"Why not?" Lee said, fiddling with a button on his jacket.

"I thought you'd consider coming for the free drink but decide against it anyway." Tim patted his friend on the shoulder, "you obviously still like her don't you?"

"Who?" Asked Lee, but he knew fine well who the subject of the matter was.

"My sister. You liked her for a long time, it's not as if all of those feelings disappeared so quickly"

He inhaled sharply, "Why are you even talking about this with me? You don't want me anywhere near her anyway!" His voice betrayed him at the last word, cracking slightly.

"I don't. But you're better than that James bloke." There was a bitter edge to Tim's voice, lee decided he wouldn't ask.

"Thanks? I guess."

"Take it as a compliment, I don't think anyone's good enough for her if I'm honest and you wouldn't be the worst person for her to end up with"

"It's not like that's going to happen anytime soon though. She's married now"

"50% of marriages end in divorce Lee. And I don't know about you, but I'm rooting for this statistic"

Tim said, shoving two pigs in blankets into his mouth. Lee took some too, silently questioning what Tim's beef with James was.

Lee ran a hand through his hair, "We shouldn't be though"

His friend laughed, "Emotions can make you quite cynical sometimes, can't they" Tim wiped his hands, noticing Daisy across the room. He waved goodbye to Lee and danced over to his girlfriend, and Lee spared another glance Lucy and James, he found that Tim was right. For _once_.


End file.
